Loosely based on a 1950 custom Ford, Martin Redfern‘s latest LEGO vehicle is a retro delight. The shaping around the bonnet is sheer class, and the use of chromed parts adds visual pop, particularly around the distinctive grille. The details are great — twin high-rise exhausts, windscreen wipers, rear-view mirrors, and indicators all present and correct.
Best of all, Martin has included a beautifully-tuned engine beneath that curved bonnet. Lovely stuff.
Piranha fish have something of an undeserved bad reputation. But this unfortunate creature, built from LEGO by Sebastian Gren, certainly looks like he come off worst in an argument with his fellows. This is a fun model, but it’s well-built too. The bones of the skeleton are perfectly-arranged, with the use of a LEGO fibre-optic cable to provide a flexible spine, and the face has plenty of ugly piranha character. The presentation helps as well — the simple base, with its touches of greenery, effectively suggests an appropriate river bed base.
Welcome to Day 16 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO City, LEGO Star Wars, and LEGO Friends 2017 advent calendars along with commentary from our team.
If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump and posted in the evening every day, so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. What bricks will we get for Day 16?
Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!
With it’s pile of beautifully-wrapped presents, and its gleaming white angel, Andrew JN‘s LEGO Christmas tree is sure to get those festive feelings flowing. Those tree branch pieces are sometimes not the easiest LEGO parts to work with, and ironically don’t always make for great tree designs. However, Andrew has used them to good effect here, and the smattering of Technic balls as baubles, coupled with the golden crowns creates a sweet seasonal scene.
This grand build of a castle titled “The Cliff” by Cao Mianyu is simply breathtaking in not only scale but detail. While most large builds feature a plan to be showcased for a convention of sorts, this build was built without any intention of a showcase! This labour of love took one year to build and an estimated 3 days a week of effort with 3 very focused hours on each of those days. One just wonders where does a person amass such patience and accumulation of bricks. Believe it or not, it started out with online inspirational views of castles, and with an intention to just build a castle with a waterfall, while working on the rock landscaping. Soon enough one thing led to another, the cliff and gate and… Well, the results speak for themselves. The final build consists of a grape vineyard, a pumpkin patch, a blacksmith, and even a tavern!
Hit the jump to see more details behind this stunning build
LEGO Elves sets have always been a rich source of beautiful colours and interesting parts for builders who prefer to make their own creations. Five sets due for release in 2018 have been revealed, and there are some great new parts and colours to be found. The largest set, 41194 Noctura’s Tower & the Earth Fox Rescue looks to have a nice supply of Zombie Teal (a colour that is returning in 2018 after being ‘killed off‘ back in 2006). Let’s take a closer look.
41194 Noctura’s Tower & the Earth Fox Rescue
A closer look at the the tower shows a new kite-shaped, transparent part, decorated with Elves elemental icons.
Read more about the new parts and colours spotted in Elves 2018 sets
In an office as fancy as this one by Sven Franic, paperwork is no longer a chore, but a joy. Warm earth tones, elegant ornaments, and a comfortable chair make for a great atmosphere. Anyone spending most of their day writing would be envious of such an office.
The centerpiece of the build is literally a piece – the light gray minifig microphone piece, used in ingenius ways throughout the build. Do not think that is all, as there are unique uses for exotic parts everywhere. The radio and typewriter obviously stand out, but I strongly suggest looking at all segments of the scene more closely, because even such background features as the wooden window frame turn out to be tiny little masterpieces of their own.
Welcome to Day 15 of our LEGO Advent Calendar countdown. Each day, we’ll reveal the three mini-builds from the LEGO City, LEGO Star Wars, and LEGO Friends 2017 advent calendars along with commentary from our team.
If you’re opening one (or more) of these advent calendars along with us, we’ve made sure the pictures and commentary on each day’s models will be behind a jump and posted in the evening every day, so we don’t accidentally ruin the surprise. For Day 15, will we be thrilled with what we build?
Click to reveal today’s LEGO advent calendar builds!
Aurebesh is the writing system in Star Wars used to transcribe Galactic Basic, one of the most used languages in the galaxy. It first appeared in the 1983 movie Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, but it was expanded into an alphabet by Stephen Crane of West End Games for gamers to use when playing Star Wars video games. Jake RF has created a starfighter that resembles the letter Enth (shaped like a backwards E and pronounced /Æ/) in the Aurebesh alphabet. There’s a lot of nice textures going on here, and the colour scheme works well to make this a believable Star Wars ship.
Jake RF shared some work-in-progress views and the original concept artwork. It’s not often we are able to get insights into the design process of a model and it is interesting to see.
For obvious reasons, everybody is excited about Star Wars at the moment. I have also been struck by the hype, as well as nostalgia, and both are important elements of Star Wars’ success. KW_Vauban hits the nostalgic soft spot for me, not only by recreating a stunning prequel scene, but giving it an extra edge by titling it Battlefront – Battle of Theed. All the years of playing Star Wars Battlefront are calling back to me…
The architecture is clean and picturesque, with a lot of depth added by the stairway leading into the buildings in the corners. The large flat area is filled up just enough to give the ongoing battle a realistic feel without an overly high density of action, something that plagues many Star Wars LEGO creations. One of my favourite parts has to be the droid lifted up in the air, because the translucent bricks supporting it actually look good as a trace of movement.
2017 has been a fantastic year to be a LEGO Star Wars builder and collector. As we celebrate the release of The Last Jedi in theaters today, we’re asking ourselves what the best LEGO Star Wars sets released this year have been. Since several of the sets in our best LEGO sets of 2017 list were Star Wars sets, a couple of these won’t be a surprise. LEGO released dozens of Star Wars sets this year, and although we’ve only reviewed about 10 sets so far, we have built many of the rest. For sets we haven’t reviewed here on TBB yet, we’ll include a brief mini-review. Let’s dig in!
The excellent minifig-scale 75155 Rebel U-wing Fighter set included a pilot minifig who wore a standard Rebel pilot helmet. However, the U-wing pilots in Rogue One actually wore unique helmets reminiscent of helicopter pilot helmets. So, for a paltry $9.99, you can buy 75160 U-wing in Microfighters form and pick up the one accessory that should’ve been in 75155. Still, this is a wonderful little set on its own merits, with a fantastic minifig (I believe I’ve already mentioned his headgear…) and a nicely miniaturized U-wing built from a mere 109 pieces.
LEGO is notoriously stingy about doling out unique characters in large sets, while the Battle Packs have mostly been army builders with multiples of tertiary characters (like generic clone troopers or stormtroopers). However, 75167 Bounty Hunter Speeder Bike Battle Pack includes a fully redesigned Bossk, brand new 4-LOM, and a new printed piece for IG-88. Oh, and Dengar, for some reason. Despite my criticism of the inclusion of old Mr. Head Wound, stud-shooters for weapons, and the basic design of the non-canon vehicle, this set really is a fantastic way to get several iconic minifigs plus a handful of azure parts (125 pieces overall) for just $14.99.
See the rest of our top 10 best LEGO Star Wars sets of 2017
If you enjoyed seeing a porg in peril in my recent LEGO vignette Porg: The Other White Meat then why not build your very own LEGO porg, using my new Build-a-Porg building guide? It would make a great Holiday gift for the Star Wars obsessed LEGO fan in your life – there’s still time!
Click here for a preview of the building guide